Nueva presentación:  Asignatura: Historia de los países de habla inglesa / History of english-speaking countries. ✏ Título: UN SDG's project.: Scotland Case Study #ODS 5 y 13: Igualdad de género y Acción por el clima / #SDG 5 and 13: Gender equality and Climate action By: Ishbel Miller

1. UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Scotland Case Study

2. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development […] provides a shared blueprint
for peace and prosperity for people and the
planet, now and into the future. (1)

3. In 2015, all member states of the United nations adopted the 17
goals in an act of recognition of the steps to take to ensure a
better future for the planet and all its inhabitants.
The goals span across a range of social environmental issues,
such as climate change and marine protection, gender equality,
and achieving zero hunger.
While each member state will begin working from different
starting points, all member states have committed to achieving
these goals by 2030. (1)

5. Scotland: Political context
The Scottish Government opened in 1999, after Scotland
voted in 1997 to be devolved from the UK government in
Westminster. Devolution granted Scotland autonomous
power over a wider range of issues, such as health,
education, conservation and some taxation. (2)
While Scotland is still a member state of the United
Kingdom, it has significant powers of self-governance and
has taken many steps towards progression of the 17 Goals
independently from the rest of the UK.

6. Scotland and the
Scottish National Party
(SNP)
For the last 13 years, the Scottish
National Party (SNP) have led the
Scottish parliament and passed a
wide range of laws and policies
which align with the UNs 17 goals.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first
female First Minister, has been in
office since 2014 and has
championed equality, conservation
and progress in her policies. (3)

7. Gender
Equality
- Despite efforts for equality
increasing in recent decades,
women and girls around the world
still face significant barriers and
oppression in many aspects of life.
- The main issues faced by women in
Scotland include:
- Period poverty
- Domestic abuse
- Workplace equality
“No one should be denied rights or
opportunities because of their gender. We are
working to reduce and remove the social and
economic barriers faced by women and men in
Scotland.”(4)
- Source: Scottish Government Website -

8. Domestic
Abuse in
Scotland
- According to the UN, 35% of women
globally have experienced abuse at the
hand of a partner at some time in their lives
(5)
- The majority of domestic abuse victims,
both globally and in Scotland, are women (5)
- Police Scotland reports estimate around
60,000 incidents of domestic abuse occur
every year in Scotland, around one every 9
minutes (6)
- Domestic abuse accounts for around ¼ of
all crime in Scotland (7)

9. Domestic Abuse Policies
In April 2019, Scotland passed the ground-
breaking Domestic Abuse Law (Scotland)
which expanded the scope of criminally
abusive behaviour to include psychological
abuse of a partner, rather than just physical
or sexual abuse. (8)
Reports in 2020 that over 1,700 new crimes
have been recorded as a result of this new
law. Having a supportive legal framework
to convict perpetrators of domestic abuse
allows survivors (the majority of whom are
women) to escape and see their abusers
held to justice. (9)

10. Next Steps
- The SNP are continuing to work with
Domestic Violence Survivors groups to
ensure that the justice system is fair and
functional for survivors of domestic abuse so
that their abusers can be brought to justice
without any extra turmoil for the victim. (8)
- The SNP recently launched a campaign to
tackle the sharing of intimate images of
partners – known as ‘revenge porn’ as
domestic violence takes new forms online. (8)

11. Workplace Equality
- Currently, women make up less than
50% of regulated public boards in
Scotland and are statistically less
likely to enter into positions of
authority. (10)
- In 2014, the SNP pledged to tackle
workplace inequality and have gender-
balanced public boards by 2020. (10)
- This act was implemented in 2017 with the
Gender Representation on Public Boards
(Scotland) (2017): This bill requires 50:50
male and female equality on all non-
executive public boards in Scotland,
encouraging women to step into political
roles. (10)

12. Future Plans
- The SNP have announced their Gender Pay
Gap Action Plan:
The plan aims to reduce the gender pay gap in
2021 by investing £5 million into supporting
women after breaks from work and funding
support programmes. The plan also encourages
private businesses to voluntary pledge to
commit to 50:50 equality boardrooms. (10)

13. Leading by Example
Nicola Sturgeon herself is the first
female First Minister of Scotland –
providing an example and
inspirational role model for women
and girls around the world.
Her cabinet (the team of Senior
Ministers at the top of the
government) has a 50:50 gender
ratio split– promoting equal
opportunity at the highest level of
Scottish politics. (10)

14. Period Poverty
- Menstruation is a natural process that almost
all women experience, however, many
women experience difficulty accessing period
products such as sanitary pads and tampons
when they need them.
- Lack of access to period products can cause
women and girls to miss work or school
during their period, and can cause feelings of
embarrassment, discomfort and shame,
which can act as emotional barriers to
learning.
- Furthermore, women living in poverty or
homelessness often cannot afford to
purchase their own sanitary products,
causing further disruption to their lives. (11)

15. Period Poverty
Legislation
- In November 2020, the Scottish
Government passed the Period Products
(Free Provision) bill, which made sanitary
products free and accessible to anyone
who needs them, and includes free
distribution in schools, colleges and
universities. (11)
- allowing women free access to products
will not only improve the quality of life
and will allow all women to bleed with
dignity but will also tackle the social
stigma around periods and open the
conversation without shame.
1 in 4 Scottish
students have
struggled at
times to access
sanitary
products at
school,
university or
college. (12)

16. Climate Action
Climate change is the biggest threat
to our planet today. According to UN
statistics 2019 was the warmest year
on record, preceded by a decade of
incremental temperature rise. (13)
Combatting climate change requires
efforts to change our energy sources,
greatly reduce our carbon emissions
and be less wasteful of our finite
resources.

17. Climate Action – current
legislation in Scotland
- In 2012, Scotland set up the world’s first Climate
Justice Fund which offers financial support to
nations most impacted by climate change. By
2021, the fund hopes to have offered £21 million
in aid. (15)
- In 2013, Scotland became the first UK nation to
ban fracking as it was inconsistent with their
climate change policies. (15)
- In 2014, Scotland was the first UK nation to put a
5p charge on plastic carrier bags to prevent
excessive plastic waste. This charge reduced plastic
bag use by 80% (15)
- In 2019 at the SNP Conference, Nicola Sturgeon
declared a climate emergency and committed to
Scotland becoming carbon neutral by 2050, which
has now been updated to 2040 with new efforts.
(15)
-
Countries with
geographical
disadvantages and
less-developed
infrastructure
experience climate
disasters more
intensely (14)

18. Climate Action – Next steps
- Scotland pledges to reduce carbon emissions
by 75% by 2030 (16)
- Scotland aims to phase out sale of new
petrol vehicles by 2032 (15)
- Renewable energy accounted for around
75% of Scottish energy sources in 2018 and:
- By 2030, Scotland hopes to have moved the
electricity sector away from carbon energy
entirely (15)
- The government is hoping to start a Deposit
Return Scheme, in which shops will offer
20p refunds for returning and recycling
plastic, aluminium and glass bottles (15)

19. Summary
The previous decade has seen major
steps forward for Scotland in achieving
the UN goals – with some positive
policies even being passed before the
goals began in 2015
- Scotland has set its own precedent
ahead of many other nations, such as
providing free sanitary products,
introducing the plastic bag tax,
declaring a climate emergency and
banning fracking
As the member states begin to strive to
fulfil the 17 goals, Scotland holds a place
at the forefront of progress and acts as an
example of what is possible for the future

20. References
1 - https://sdgs.un.org/goals
2 -
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/u
ploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/770709/
DevolutionFactsheet.pdf
3 - https://firstminister.gov.scot/about/history-of-the-
office-
4 - https://www.gov.scot/policies/gender-
equality/workplace-gender-equality/
5- https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-
violence-against-women/facts-and-figures
6-https://www.scotland.police.uk/what-s-
happening/news/2020/february/more-than-1300-
crimes-recorded-under-new-domestic-abuse-laws/
7 -
http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topic
s/families_and_households/domestic_abuse/what_is_d
omestic_abuse?gclid=CjwKCAiA_eb-
BRB2EiwAGBnXXnQCwfyB0iSA1KgBfrwbeeeNbCZWxd
12R0meyxYS-6NCp2hIzKVOvhoCc1kQAvD_BwE)
8 - https://www.snp.org/policies/pb-how-is-the-snp-
tackling-violence-against-women/
9 - https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-52799283
10 - https://www.snp.org/policies/pb-what-is-the-snp-
doing-for-women-s-equality/
11 - https://beta.parliament.scot/bills-and-
laws/bills/period-products-free-provision-scotland-bill
12 - https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-
politics-51629880
13 - https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/climate-
change/
14 -
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/0
9/climate-change-and-migration-in-vulnerable-countries/
15 - https://www.snp.org/policies/what-actions-are-the-
snp-taking-in-government-to-combat-climate-change/
16 - https://www.gov.scot/news/contributing-to-the-
paris-agreement/